The beginning of April is just days away and with it comes National Poetry Month. Do you do anything special, poetry-wise, to celebrate it? If you don’t and would like to, here are five suggestions:

1. Read a poem a day

Lots of sites post a new poem every day of the year. Some post daily poems just during April. Give these a try (note that many give you the option of subscribing, that is, having the poem delivered to you by email daily):

2. Write a poem a day

Adele Kenny’s The Music In It blog (a prompt for every day in April coming April 1st; a weekly prompt every Saturday)

3. Start your own poetry blog

If you like writing poems and would like to share them with the world, sign up and start blogging for free at:wordpress.comblogger.com

4. Buy a poetry book

Search your favourite poet on any book-buying site. Many poetry books are now also available for e-readers if that’s what you prefer (though I must say, as much as I love my Kindle, I still prefer reading poetry books in hard copy).

5. Attend a poetry event or reading

Enjoy our special guest, Robert Martens, whose chapbook poltergeist was shortlisted in the 2012 bpNichol award.

Robert Martens – reading an an MSA PPS Blue Moon night in June 2011

Robert Martens
Robert Martens was raised in an ethnic Mennonite community, then time travelled to the years of student revolt at Simon Fraser University. Since then he’s tried to vainly address those contradictions in his poetry. Robert now lives in Abbotsford, where he writes for the periodical of the Mennonite Historical Society. He remains baffled as to how his chapbook, “poltergeist”, was shortlisted for the bpNichol award last year. Perhaps it was—as poetry always is—an act of God.

March 11th, our first poetry night of the 2013 reading season, is just around the corner. Poetry reading and performance is an art form all its own. We’ll miss our speech and reading coach Thurlow Gowan. Performance poet and teacher Renée LaTulippe to the rescue!

Renée has put together a seven-minute video that explains how to prepare for a poetry reading. Have a look/listen, and then get ready for March 11th.

The Poets Potpourri Society would like to invite you to a reading by one of our members.Emily Isaacson will be doing a poetry reading at the La Casa Coffee Shop at Mt. Lehman Centre in Abbotsford on Friday, January 25th, 2013 from 3pm to 5pm.

Feel free to arrive at any time for a portion of the reading, or come for the entire event.
There will be time for group discussions, and Emily is open to a few of you reading your ownpoetry at the event.

Mt. Lehman Centre is across from the Abbotsford Auto Mall at the Freeway #1 Mt. Lehman
exit.

We would appreciate it if you could RSVP just so that we have an advance idea as to how many
people may be showing up (but no RSVP is required for attending).

We had our last MSA PPS event of 2012—a Christmas potluck—on Wednesday, November 28th. Rudy and Ruth-Ann graciously hosted us in their beautiful home. Thank you so much!

There were turkey and fixings, salads, veggie dishes and, of course, dessert. Brayden began the meal by reading a poem prayer he composed for the occasion.

After dinner we gathered around in the living room for a gift exchange/game. Each person got to pick a wrapped gift when his or her name was drawn.

Though the rules of the gift exchange allowed any person, at their turn, to steal anyone else’s gift instead of unwrapping a new one, the exchange proceeded very civilly until near the end, when cheeky Nicholas stole Erin’s gift card. It all ended happily when Erin unwrapped a book that pleased her just as well.

November 28th would have been our friend Thurlow’s 100th birthday! We remembered him with a toast by Brayden, a tribute by Erin and the singing of Happy Birthday. How he would have enjoyed this celebration. We do miss him!

The MSA Poets Potpourri Society now takes a break until March.

Our first reading of 2013 is scheduled for Monday, March 11th at the Clearbrook Library Meeting Room, 6:30-8:30.

The MSA Poets Potpourri Society members ended the season’s series of public readings on a high note by launching their newest anthology.

Blue Moon Reading and the launch of Picking Flowers

The 160-page volume Picking Flowers – Poems by Thurlow Gowan with Tributes and Poems by Friends was the product of months of work by editors Alvin Ens and Violet Nesdoly. It contains over 50 poems by Thurlow Gowan and comes out just in time for his 100th birthday (November 28th). PPS members contributed to Tributes and Member Poems sections.

The book is a treasury of poems rich in history and rife with homespun wisdom and the pioneer spirit of the Canadian west. (Thurlow grew up in Manitoba and, after stints of beekeeping and logging, taught in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and British Columbia.) Black-and-white photos sprinkled throughout illustrate the changes one hundred years have brought to Thurlow and the world he and his wife Vivian inhabited.

For the first half of the evening members took turns reading Thurlow’s poems. The fact that we all found something to read that was to our taste speaks of Thurlow’s range in both subject matter and style.

MSA PPS Members read from Picking Flowers

After a refreshment break contributors read their selections from the Tributes and Member Poems.

Socializing during the break

Unfortunately Thurlow was not well enough to attend the evening. His niece Beverly Urschel represented the family. However, a group of MSA PPS members presented Picking Flowers to Thurlow a few days before the launch.